Lewis Shiner's Black and White

Last year, I interviewed Lewis Shiner about his Fiction Liberation Front. Now, I've reviewed his latest novel, Black & White, for The Austin Chronicle.

On the surface, Black & White demonstrates the struggles of historical and contemporary racism, but at its core, the story revolves around a son coming to terms with the sins of his father. The always-talented Shiner has produced some of his finest work to date here. Beyond a brief, discursive foray into Ruth's story, he has created a near-perfect novel – steeped in important political and societal issues, neatly wrapped in the trimmings of a mystery story. With Black & White, Lewis Shiner ascends to a literary realm previously reserved for the likes of Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem.
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The Golden Age of Comics

The Golden Age of Comics promises to be the "#1 site for downloading FREE copyright free golden age comics." I certainly cannot confirm or deny that statement, but with over 4,500 scanned Golden Age comic books, it is the most impressive I've seen. Publishers include Ace Comics, American Comics Group/ACG. Better/Nedor/Standard Publications, Charlton, Comics House Publications/Lev Gleason Comics, Eastern Color Printing Company, Fawcett Comics, Fiction House, Fox Comics, Hillman Periodicals, MLJ Comics, Quality Comics and many more. Scanned titles include multiple issues of Captain Marvel Adventures (and his extended family), Simon & Kirby's Fighting American, Crime Does Not Pay and literally thousands of others.


In order to access and download the comics, you must register. Downloading can be a bit tricky at first, so make sure and read the Golden Age Comics Help FAQ immediately after registering.





Whatever the hassle, this is the finest resource of Golden Age comics available on the web. To acquire a mere fraction of these stories would cost you in the tens of thousands of dollars. So go forth and experience a bit of comic book history.

David Hadju on the Treatment

David Hadju, author of The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How it Changed America, is this week's interview on KCRW's The Treatment. Rick loved the book. I didn't like it quite as much. Anyway, the interview is a typically erudite one by Elvis Mitchell, the former NY Times film critic, who is the sort of person who seems to know a little something about everything. The Treatment is available online and as a podcast through iTunes. And heads up on next week's show, featuring an interview with Andrew Stanton, director of Wall-E. 

King Kong: The Eighth Wonder of the World

As part of their "In Character" series about indelible American characters, this morning's Weekend Edition offered this interesting overview on King Kong.

The piece begins with an interview of Kong creator Meriam C. Cooper recalling the difficulties of getting the film produced.

But when Cooper first proposed the film in 1931, not everyone thought it was a good idea. In fact, no one was interested except David O. Selznick at RKO.

"David played one vital part. He was the only human being that backed me up 100 percent," Cooper said. "He didn't know what the hell I was doing. Everyone thought it was nuts. And everybody wanted me to put a man in a gorilla suit. And it would have been just horrible."

Course as we all know, King Kong and its amazing Willis O'Brien effects was a huge hit and actually saved RKO from bankruptcy.

The feature goes on to discuss the racism in the film.

Cynthia Erb is the director of film studies at Wayne State University in Detroit and the author of Tracking King Kong: A Hollywood Icon in World Culture. Erb says that "most people who know the film would say to one degree or another it is a racist film. At that time in the late 20s early 30s, the jungle genre like Tarzan was very popular in film. So there were a lot of movies set in exotic locations. And the depiction of natives was often patronizing, stereotypical, racist. I think it does happen with the Skull Islanders."

Erb (which always reminds me of another ape contributor Edgar Rice Burroughs-- one who was often criticized for his racism) further explains her viewpoint.

"In my opinion, it always has this other dimension that focuses on King Kong as a victim and on the Carl Denham character as a real intruder, as a certain type who really intrudes and is very clueless about the space he is conquering. So for me that always kind of complicates the argument. There are certainly different ways of reading the film."

I do agree with her. It is a complicated issue.


The report, also, discusses the poor treatment of women as well as the sexual undercurrent throughout.

The entertaining and informative ten minute essay-- interspersed with interview clips from Cooper and Fay Wray-- concludes with a proclamation that I wholeheartedly agree with.

The remakes and a raft of other minor Kong movies over the decades only serve to highlight the power of the 1933 original. For film fans everywhere, Merian Cooper's Kong will always remain the king, the Eighth Wonder of the World.

An Unexpected Sighting

I was reading Blake Bell's critical retrospective Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko when I ran across this unexpected mention of my grandfather on p.75.

The art direction, set design, lighting, characterizations, plotlines and dialog of movies had been a strong influence on comic-book artists from the beginning, and with its many theaters and ready access to research material, Manhattan was a movie haven. One of the most popular haunts for acquiring 8X10-inch movie still photos was Irving Klaw's Movie Star News on 18th Street.

"Al Williamson once said he always ran into Ditko at Irving's," says artist Batton Lash.

So Irving Klaw was not only instrumental in the pin-up and fetish industries but served as a source for comic book artists. The latter was news to me.

Two movie reviews

My reviews of Wanted and Wall*E are up at RevolutionSF. I don't think I could have reviewed two wildly different movies, both in content and quality.

From that moment on, the film becomes one mindless action scene after another, interrupted by dreadfully scripted, poorly acted, and often nonsensical exposition. None of the action felt particularly original and upon entering the final third, outright stupid. The last action sequence hinges upon the absurd, even for a movie based upon a comic book.


Continued...

Borrowing concepts from eco-Armageddon cinematic tales of the 1970s -- complete with desolate landscapes, bleak situations, and hot topic politics, veteran Pixar director and writer Stanton (Finding Nemo, A Bug's Life, both Toy Storys, and Monsters, Inc.) crafts a very smart script that never condescends. Despite the lack of dialog during the first third of the film, Stanton creatively employs sounds and body movements to express Wall*E's emotions and intents. Successfully incorporating the backgrounds and settings into the narrative, Stanton makes them characters unto themselves.

Continued...

May We All Have This Complaint...

From the June 25th USA Today Book Buzz:

Plum thumb:
It's tough being a best-selling author. Just ask Janet Evanovich, who has discovered that signing books can be a real pain. Evanovich, who wrapped up a six-city book tour Monday, is sporting a brace on her right hand. Fearless Fourteen, her new novel starring New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, enters USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list at No. 1. The tour started June 17 at the MGM Grand Theater at the Foxwoods Resort & Casino in Mashantucket, Conn., and drew more than 2,000 fans. Huge crowds also showed up in Omaha, Denver, Dallas, San Diego and Los Angeles. "It's at least 1,000 people at each signing, which goes on for at least five hours, and they all have four or five books," Evanovich says. "The human thumb is not designed to do that six days in a row."

Somehow, I'm having trouble mustering up much sympathy.